(no subject)

[seldear]

If I was God, I'd take every single American out of America and put them in another country for ten years. Minimum. They'd go in groups of no more than fifty and be forced to speak the local language, eat the local food, and live with whatever goddamn situation the region is in.

There'd be no going home, no absconding, no touristing; they'd learn what it meant to live in a country that isn't "the greatest country in the world" and have to take it up the ass like the rest of us.

And it wouldn't be 'nice, civilised countries' like Canada, England, Australia, or even (*gasp*) France! They wouldn't get ten year holidays in the Maldives, Fiji, or 'the land that isn't really Middle Earth' - more commonly known as New Zealand. No, we'd put them in the dust-and-oil-rich Middle East and the high Tibetan wilds, the poorest towns in China, and the most miserable slums in South-East Asia. We'd stick a group somewhere in Antarctica, pour them into the Siberian plains, shove a whole slew of them in South America (sorry, South America), and maybe send all the black people back to Africa - not because we're racist, just so they're somewhere where their skin colour isn't an issue anymore. (Isn't that what they really want, after all?)

Hey, come on, America! Just think how fun it would be! You'd actually get to experience 'the rest of the world' - that mysterious place that you've only ever heard about on TV! *cue Twilight Zone music*

And at the end of their 'sentence', Americans would either be the nicest, most humble, most appreciative people on the planet, or serious assholes. If it was the latter, we'd just cut their throats and bury them six feet under - and then their bodies would meld into the soil of the country, thereby enriching it as they rotted into the ground, and, hey, for once America would be giving something back to the rest of the world!

I told you not to read!

And yeah, this is the 'Tempting Fate' meme (although I'm not sure if I'm tempting fate more by posting the meme below, or the blurb above).

1. Make an LJ-cut post with "DO NOT READ" as the text.
2. Do not select a 'mood' for this post.
3. If anyone clicks the cut, they are to comment and admit to doing so.
4. Anyone who reads this also has to do the same in THEIR journal, thus continuing the neverending madness.

Comments

[saramund.livejournal.com]

didn't read (promise) but had to reply!

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

*laughs* But once you click you should read!

[saramund.livejournal.com]

but you told me not to!

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

and do you do everything I tell you to, hmm?

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

If it wasn't physically impossible, I probably would have spent much of the last 10 years in South America or the Middle East or Africa. Africa for the chimps and the folklore. The Middle East to find out where the romance went. South America for its dead civilizations and the people that have adapted to wildly changing rulings.

I know where the romance went. I just... That area used to just scream passion and adventure. But a few uptight men have managed to cow everybody. How? Why? Is it still there? Refugees say yes, but...

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Somehow I suspect the author was thinking of the more poverty-esque parts of the third world, rather than the picturesque bits.

But yes, would love to see the less charted parts of the world. The parentals went to South America for their honeymoon and had loads of pictures when they got back.

Talked of altitude sickness and incredible poverty but wonderful history, too.

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

Heh. Honestly? The bits I'm mentioning tend to be in the more poverty-esque areas. I like talking to the people. Safaris and jungle tours make my skin crawl. I like getting dirty in those areas.

In the US, I'd rather stay in a cushy hotel. The thing that often bothers me the most of resort vacations in South America that are advertised up here is knowing the bellman likely goes home to what we would consider junk boxes. By staying at the hotel, you are helping to pay his salary, but you are also continuing the cycle.

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

And California is always sunny and we're all movie stars, right? (Which, ok, it is sunny today, but it isn't always like this.)

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

You mean you're not all valleygirls?? OMGWTFBBQ!

[sharim.livejournal.com]

if you post DO NOT READ, of course I"m going to read.

*thwaps sel*

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

*angles halo*

[suds-from-aus.livejournal.com]

You know what they say about cats and curiousity... good thing I'm not a cat, because if I were I'd have died a looonnngggg time ago ;)

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Does a cat own, you, though?

[suds-from-aus.livejournal.com]

No. No cat will ever own me.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Aww... :)

[suds-from-aus.livejournal.com]

<---- dog person ;) I don't like the way cats make you feel as if you're s petty jaffa serving their master so much ;)

[aunty-pasta.livejournal.com]

im a bad bad girl.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Yes, you are. But that has nothing to do with you clicking on the cut. *g*

[aunty-pasta.livejournal.com]

snort! :D

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

And if everyone else jumped off a cliff...

[yearbookie.livejournal.com]

I read ONLY because I was thinking how it could've gotten so many comments.

I don't want to say anything bad about America because it might turn out to be a VERY VERY LONG comment.